Selected Posts from the Midd Blogosphere

For those of you who use our voice mail unified messaging option, i.e. voice mail in email inbox, we’ve discovered that since 11/22/16 there is a varying delay in receipt and notification of a message from between a few minutes to over an hour. Our vendor is troubleshooting the issue. Voice mail users who don’t use unified messaging are not affected and continue to receive messages and notification within seconds of being left by caller.

During our regular maintenance window this Sunday morning, December 11th, and continuing into the afternoon, the Polycom video conferencing systems will be down. Users will not be able to make outgoing or receive incoming calls until the work is completed.

The application deadline for the 2017 Thomas R. Pickering Foreign Affairs Fellowship is just over a month away! In order to be considered for the Pickering Fellowship, students must submit their application no later than 11:59 p.m. ET on January 13, 2017. All application components (including letters of recommendation) must be received by this deadline. For more information on […]

Join a fast-paced, creative, joyful work environment and make a positive impact on-campus and in the local community through this position. We seek an intern to support Center for Community Engagement staff on a wide-range of projects including event planning, data input, program research, and logistical support. Each work shift will look slightly different based on the programming and needs of the Center for Community Engagement.

Responsibilities:

Provide office coverage during office hours.

Greet faculty, students, community partners, and other visitors to the Center for Community Engagement. Provide information about the office and our programs to visitors.

Pursue innovative and creative ways to help spread understanding and awareness of the Center for Community Engagement on- and off-campus.

Provide research assistance as needed (e.g., comparison to other campus programs, “best practices,” student service leadership, support for faculty, etc.).

Help to plan and organize one-time events for the Center for Community Engagement.

Help prepare materials-for bulletin boards, posters, articles, etc.

Assist with other office responsibilities as needed.

Training:

Excellent interpersonal and communication skills; ability to manage and prioritize multiple tasks; self-motivation and the ability to work independently and proactively on projects; previous experience with community service, service-learning, and/or some familiarity with community service in Addison County preferred; event planning experience helpful.

Education/Training:

Strong computer skills, including Word and Excel.

Strong communications skills, both oral and written.

Reliability and a strong commitment to the Center for Community Engagement’s mission.

This project is supported by funding from a Middlebury College Community Engagement Mini-Grant.

“From the local to the global: Asians and Asian Americans on the side of Racial Justice, Climate Justice, and Gender Justice,” a lecture by Helena Wong

Nov. 14, Helena Wong from Grassroots Global Justice Alliance and the World March of Women: U.S. Chapter, came up from New York City to speak at Middlebury College. The turnout was exceedingly good, with the entire Orchard room at Hillcrest filled, which means there were about sixty people who showed up. This, I would suggest, had a lot to do with Trump’s election victory on the preceding Tuesday. Many students were still grappling with the implications of this landmark election results.

Helena spoke for about an hour in total, and then took half an hour of questions afterwards. Her talk can be broken into three main parts: i)community-based organizing in NYC (with Committee Against Anti-Asian Violence, ii)global justice organizing as a U.S.-based organizer: calling out and challenging U.S. imperialism, and iii)gender equity organizing in China. I especially loved the succinct pieces of advice she gave: i)let’s fight like hell for our rights and liberties, ii)stop the blame game and start organizing, and iii)always use an intersectional analysis of climate, gender, and racial justice.

Helena’s perspectives are rarely heard on this campus: specifically, her choice to dedicate her life’s work to organizing, and the concrete ways that the work that she is involved in has challenged U.S. imperialism in COP21 and in the case of the murder of Berta Cáceres, for examples. With Trump’s ascension into presidency, my sense is that many students at Middlebury are looking for answers: what can be done? What must be done? Helena’s wealth of experience as an organizer spoke loudly and clearly to these burning questions, especially as they are asked by Asians and Asian-Americans who are not usually understood (and self-understood!) as having any connection at all to any social justice movements. Her voice is a very important one to witness, without a doubt.

Is your office located in Bicentennial Hall? Are you wondering about or need help with Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA), moving to the cloud, or other computing issues? Our Mobile Helpdesk will be onsite in MBH’s Great Hall with support by our Security Team. Drop by and get safe and secure with ease. Rolling in on 12/07 from 1:00PM-3:00PM.